Looking for comments on my 1st mead...

Here's what I started with...

12 lbs clover honey (from Sam's Club)
1/2 oz Saaz hops
1 pkg L-47 yeast
1 tsp DAP

This is where my beer brewing comes into play...

2 cinniminan sticks
.5 cups of brown sugar
.5 tsp ginger
1 tsp ginger

I think it came out to 1.086 although that seemed low to mee. I was pretty hammard by this time so I guess it could've been 1.186. In any case after about a month the gravity dropped to 1.005 and really clear and pretty sweet. I thought the L 47 was concidered a drier finishing yeast?

I then racked it into a carboy over 1 can of raspberry puree, added .5 tsp DAP, another pound of honey and another pkg of L-47. It has been sitting on the puree for about a week now. I only wanted a hint of raspberry taste and color. If it isn't enough I have a bottle of raspberry extract from a beer recipe.

Now my questions:

1) How long should leave it on the puree? (I know I will have to rack it again)
2) Is there anything I should do for this beside wait?
3) How long in the bottle?
4) Can I bottle in beer bottles with new caps?

Thank you all and sorry this was alittle long... Cheers \_/

Thank you for the reply OSKAAR.

The yeast was in fact ICV-D47. I was looking for something that finished dry and was told this would be a good choice. Also I just finished brewing a christmas cheer beer for the holidays and got this crazy idea to do the some thing for the mead. Thinking back, I should've just made something less techicnal. I like challanges I guess.

Here were my steps:

* heated pot of water on the stove and set honey bottles in for about 10 minutes. This was for a 5 Gallon batch.

* Just dumped in the two cinnamon sticks, brown sugar, ginger and the last 1 tsp was supposed to be all spice. The hop were left over form the christmas beer and cam in a 1 oz bag. I only used .5 oz for the beer so I dumped it into the mead figuring "what the heck".

* Areated with medical grade oxygen and an air stone for about 3 minutes as I stirred.

* waited about 3 weeks and took a gravity reading 1.005.

* racked onto 1 can of oregon raspberry fruit puree and one more pound of honey that was left over and another package of the same yeast. In my very minimum experience, I thought all the yeast was already used up and there was nothing left for the additional fermentables that were added.

When I go home today I will take another gravity reading. I guess the additional package of yeast was not necessary.

Thank you agian for the reply. To be honest, I have no idea where I was going with this but I did want something with a blush color (raspberry purree) something with spices (christmasy, just didn't know how much of what. I figured I can always add more later but can't ever take away once added)

Cheers and thanx again...

Would anyone else like to comment on this? I have nothing to compare this too and I may have gone too far out on the limb this time, Haha.

I hadn't tasted it since I added the peree. I'ts still really cloudy which I might rack into another carboy once it is done fermenting (again). How long should I give it on top of the Puree

I just added dry yeast, Gave it a a swirl,another shot of O2 and a half tsp of DAP.

Do you just let it sit until it clears? Keep racking off the sediment? Add gelitan? Can I bottle mead in beer bottles? Grolsh swing tops?

Thank you agian OSKAAR.